Nightclubs crackdown after death of ‘hostess’

THE government has launched a new nationwide crackdown on nightclubs after a Belarusian “hostess” died after being found unconscious in a room on Sunday night — just six days after arriving in the TRNC.

Mother-of-one Volha Viarbouskaya, 26, was discovered by a waiter at Alayköy’s Hanedan establishment at around 11.30pm, 50 minutes after she had taken a “client” to an upstairs room, reports said. She was rushed to hospital but died on the way.

The man who was with her at the time of the incident fled the scene but was later arrested. Police are still investigating the cause of Ms Viarbouskaya’s death and have sent blood and tissue samples to a lab in İstanbul to be analysed.

The incident came just three days after inspectors from Lefkoşa Turkish Municipality shut down four unlicensed night spots during simultaneous swoops.

On Wednesday and Thursday teams from the Interior, Labour and Social Security and Health ministries joined district officers, police and council officials on a series of unannounced inspections at some 40 nightclubs and “pubs” — the first such coordinated action for five years.

They were met with “appalling” conditions concerning food hygiene and health and safety, Health Minister Filiz Besim said on Thursday.

The sector, which is licensed and regulated, has for years been seen as a front for prostitution with the implicit approval

of the authorities, even though paying for sex is illegal in North Cyprus.

Various international reports have said that women employed by the businesses may have been forced into sex work and had their passports taken away by bosses.

The latest action came after Interior Minister Ayşegül Baybars Kadri and Labour and Social Security Minister Zeki Çeler held a joint press conference on Monday following an emergency meeting with members of a special commission on nightclubs. Mrs Baybars Kadri vowed to put an end to “illegalities” and “human rights abuses” at the nightclubs, adding that she had demanded a report into Ms Viarbouskaya’s death to examine any possible “neglect” on the part of the Hanedan owners.

She promised that inspections would be held on a “regular basis” and that “legal loopholes” preventing her department from “taking action” would be closed.

Mr Çeler acknowledged the “existence of problem at the nightclubs”, saying he would do his “utmost” to address them.

He said he would ensure that any workers affected by the closure of the four nightclubs in Lefkoşa would not be “victimised”.